Pros And Cons Of Bottled Water

Bottled Water, Pro or Con?

Many people and schools believe that the sale of bottled water should be banned for a multitude of reasons. However, due to to lack of convenience, profit, and access to safe water, my school (YMS) should not ban the sale of bottled water.

Why ban water? Many people believe that since bottled water is the #1 most sold drink and gives off the most waste, that that is the drink we should ban. However, banning bottled drinks such as Gatorade, sodas, or other sugary drinks could help the situation just as much. In the article “Is Bottled Water Really Better?”, Lauren Tarshis states that banning bottled water could lead people to drinking unhealthy beverages such as soda or Gatorade and contribute to America's growing obesity problem. More than 2/3rd s of American adults are considered to be obese, and sodas can contribute to that. If bottled water was banned, people would simply grab another drink that was pre-packaged for convenience. The problem would only grow if we banned the sale of bottled water at YMS.
Should we ban bottled water everywhere?
Although some cities such as San Francisco can easily ban the sale of bottled water, it wouldn't be so easy for others. The article Is Bottled Water Really Better states that around the world, 1 billion people do not have access to clean water. If we banned bottled water in cities without clean access to water, people could get sick or even die by drinking from the tap or local water fountains. According to the article 10 American Cities With the Worst Drinking Water, Jacksonville Florida is known as one of the top 10 US cities with the worst drinking water. Yulee, being only half an hour away from Jacksonville, should not ban water in schools. Would it be better to stay healthy and save lives, or kill people but have less empty water bottles? Bottled water is a necessity for some people and should not be banned in schools
anywhere.

“Why can't we drink water, isn’t it healthy?”At school, the majority of students do not drink water in classrooms. Therefore, the only place at YMS that students would be drinking bottled water would be the cafeteria. In the cafeteria, most students do not buy bottled water, they buy sugary drinks, milk, or juice. Banning the sale of bottled water at YMS would not only further promote the problem, but make the few that do buy bottled water dissatisfied. On game days, many of the student athletes are asked to drink water before the game. If they could not buy water during school hours, they could become dehydrated or even pass out at the game. Banning the sale of water bottles could also lower the cafeteria’s profit due to not being able to sell water. Therefore, banning the sale of bottled water at YMS is a bad decision.

The water bottles on Earth could stretch to the moon and back, 8 times! Many people believe that bottled water wastes money and harms the environment. These people think that instead of coming up with a solution to remove the waste but to ban bottled water all together. Perhaps a better decision would be to come up with a new waste removal process that would eliminate the problem. Bottled water is a necessity to many people and should not be banned anywhere, including schools.

In conclusion, bottled water is a daily necessity for our daily lives and should not be banned by the government. YMS itself does not use a large number of bottled water, so there is no reason to ban water at Yulee Middle School.